People smuggler Bilu was sentenced on Tuesday. Photograph: Bay Ismoyo/AFP

A people smuggler behind a journey to Australia that ended with up to 90 lives lost at sea has been jailed for seven years by an Indonesian court.

Prosecutors on Tuesday recommended up to 15 years in jail for the Pakistani man, known as Bilu, who they said organised a journey on a vessel that sank in the Sunda Strait in 2012.

Also known as Hasan Bilu and Jawed Muhmud, Bilu was arrested in Jakarta in May last year in a breakthrough joint operation between Australian and Indonesian authorities.

In a Jakarta court on Tuesday, prosecutors argued for a maximum of 15 years’ jail for people-smuggling charges and a fine of up to 1.5bn rupiah (A$139,500).

The court heard Bilu had been charging asylum seekers about US$5000 each to make the perilous trip to Australia.

The 54-year-old was found guilty, and a panel of three judges sentenced him to seven years' jail, with a fine of 800m rupiah (A$74,400) that could alternatively be converted to an additional six months' jail.

In sentencing, the chief judge, Nasir Simanjuntak, said Bilu had caused the deaths of numerous people and had not been frank with authorities.

In his favour, the judge said Bilu had been polite in court, had a wife and child, and had never been in trouble before.

Bilu's lawyers said their client accepted the sentence and would not appeal.

He is believed to have admitted to arranging the passage of four asylum-seeker boats, but is suspected of far deeper involvement in people-smuggling ventures.

He had been identified by another man who was jailed in Indonesia last year for his part in sending asylum-seeker boats to Australia, including the one which sank in 2012, causing the deaths of 90 people.

Dawood Amiri is serving six years in jail after pleading guilty to arranging the unstable vessel, which capsized in the Sunda Strait. It had 200 passengers on board.